tech
March 9, 2026
Why Train Dreams should win the best picture Oscar
With its meditative pace and sincere interest in moral questions, Clint Bentley’s film of a rudderless man cutting down trees in Idaho’s verdant vistas has the air of a Hollywood classic from another era

TL;DR
- Train Dreams is an Oscar best film nominee with a meditative pace and a sincere interest in moral questions.
- The film's style, featuring an omniscient narrator and deliberate pacing, evokes classic Hollywood cinema.
- It tells the story of Robert Grainier, a logger in early 1900s Idaho, who becomes haunted by witnessing the racist murder of a colleague.
- The film explores themes of consequence, moral responsibility, and the search for meaning in a limited lifespan.
- Its cinematography captures the natural beauty of Idaho's landscapes, contrasting with the human actions within them.
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